The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for specimen inspection, and is particularly concerned with an apparatus and a method adapated for observing a slide specimen automatically through a microscope.
In case specimens consisting of a blood smeared on a slide glass are inspected successively through a microscope, a quick focusing of the microscope will be one of the requirements for enhancing a throughput. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,962 discloses that a specimen be held by means of vacuum adsorption. In this case, a vacuum adsorption surface of the specimen holder functions as a reference plane, and the specimen is held only by vacuum force so that the surface of the specimen will come in contact with the reference plane. However, when a method for holding the specimen only by vacuum force is applied to an apparatus, air leakage may arise due to presence of a flaw on an adsorption surface of the specimen holder of the microscope, deformation and failure of the slide specimen itself, or incoming of dust. Thus holding a specimen by vacuum cannot be maintained so long as this may often occur. If so, then the slide specimen cannot be measured efficiently in succession.
Meanwhile, an automatic blood image classification apparatus made by Hitachi, Ltd. employs a specimen autoloader system, and in the apparatus, a specimen observed through a microscope is transferred into a receiving cassette disposed counter to a feeding cassette. In this case, however, two kinds of cassettes must be prepared even for one piece of specimen, and hence a comparatively large space is required for installation. It is preferable that specimen containing areas be arranged at one spot only for setting a multiplicity of specimens within a limited space, however, such arrangement may take too much time for replacing the specimen.